Seattle daily post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, W.T. [Wash.]) 1881-1888, 1887-01-30
PIRATIsAI IeTRaALnm.


The general public little FeAIizs The
extent 70 which journalistic piracy u
carried on. The journalistic buceaneeE
10 90 bold and a. indefasiaAbls in pur-
suing his voestion IS was the more
bloodthirsty bat scarcely less admirable
bnocanesr Of old. The pirates steal
both 9 papers news and it's editorials.
By stealing thsm, Of coarse, IL meant
fepublishina them without giving credit
Tor them 10 the paper from which they
are taken. or, In fast. giving the slight
est intimation that they are not orig
nal with the paper BY which they are
stolen.
or course. the matter most commonly
stsien 10 news. Tue extent 10 which
this is appropriated Is perfectly sp-
palIine. For instance, there are two
pagers in Washington Territory which
receive the foil report Of the Associated
Press-the Tacoma Ledger and the Posr
ISTELLEaEscER. Besides these. the
Press, Of Seattle, receives the afternoon
report. the Rseiess. Of Spokane Falls, q
partial report, and the WAlla WAlla
pagers che meFest outline Of a report,
zhioh Is made 40 in Portland. There
are thus only six papers in the Terri
tory whioh sven make pretense Of re-
ceiviDR telegraphic news, but there sre
probably more than atty papers. daily
and weekly, pablisbsd In tho Territory,
all Of which publish the general news OF
he world, and none Of which so much
as dream Of giving the slightest credit
70 the papers from which 1t Is taken.
Local news Is stolen aud Fe-siolsn in the
same manner.
An inslaEce Of hos the system works
may nos be nniateresiing. Some weeks
ago the PosT-IsrkLLIaESoKR published
q short item giving lisa Of the Oanadi-
an bank notes which are worth less than
car, and containing q warning to basi-
ness men not 20 accept certain worthless
notes which we're known to be IN cifcu.
iation 10 Seattle. The item was one Of
general interest, and it was at once cop
Ted BY other papers. At first it was
credited 70 the Posr- lErELLIaKscER bot
10 was at length reproduced by some
paper which omitted the credit, and pub
iiahed 10 ~ original matter. Il then
started upoa q AeW career. and began to
drift around with no credit attached.
In this shape Il appeared as original
matter in another Seattle paper. which
did not recognize is origin. This start
Cd u for third time on It's exiraordi-
nary career. and IL IL nov being pab-
lished and unpublished, credited 10 the
Seattle paper which last Published ID
aud which had stolen Il from paper
which had stolen Il from ssme other
paper which had taken 10 from the Posr
lNrEALI9ENuEh Where this item will
bring mp asxt Il would be difisult 10
say. II has already appeared in almost
ssery pager IN Washington OF Oregon,
and Il sill nerrtly going the rounds.
sometimes it appears as editorial, some.
lines a. local and sometimes a. general
news matter, and IL will probably con
linue 10 dsifs around in Tia same nnac-
'suntabic manner for moalhs 10 come.
L the people Of Washington Territory
md OseRoa are NOS thoroughly warned
'gainst bad Canadian bank noses, Il
Rill not be the fAalt OF that item.
This is merely given As an illustration
4 Aev commoa journalistic piracy is
fhe general public DO not suspect il. |
rnsy look upon each item Which Genes
'asore their eyes as honest aud original |
nth the paper IN which they see il. bat |
{ saeJ voald apply themselves 10 q
Itudy Of lee origin. they would often
Ind thai il had bsen drifting from
'aper TO paper for weeks or, perhaps. for
nontas.